Arisen
by 4m33s
Summary: Forgotten warriors, hidden legends, and an upcoming worldwide disaster - Minecraftia's fate is now up to the descendants of the long lost Heroes. Will they ever be able to save the world again, or will they perish trying? Will they stay together till the end? Or, will their friendship be shredded into pieces, just like their ancestors? Not your ordinary TC story (I hope?)
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

**I had this idea for a while, but this is my first time writing anything for real. ****Please understand that English isn't my first language, so there might be some grammatical errors and awkward word choices and stuff...**

**So yeah, I hope you enjoy the story.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own neither Minecraft nor Team Crafted.**

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There had been a story about a band of brave young men.

This long-forgotten legend dates far back to the ancient times, when gods, demons, and magic spells were nothing strange at all. Although the Minecraftians of those days used to be much tougher than we are today, many things still frightened them. one thing they were most afraid of was the darkness. To be precise, they feared the sinister being who lurked behind it.

Nowadays he's simply known as a mischievous spirit in campfire tales, but Herobrine of that time was considered as the demon lord who ruled over everything that could easily frighten a human being. Just like in any other tales, He is also depicted as the source of all evil in this story. He dispatched troops after troops of mobs to the land when the night came, attacking cities and villages until they burned down to the ground. He would sometimes crawl out of his castle to hunt for humans himself. Whenever he did so, usually a kingdom or two would disappear from the face of the Minecraftia. Herobrine's gruesome influence didn't stop at the simple vandalism. With the silver tongue he was born with, he manged to coax people into starting his own cult. The worshipers of Herobrine, or "Griefers" as they prefer to call themselves, proved their loyalty to their tainted god by trashing everything they see into wreckage. Innocent people were sacrificed with no chance of resistance. Countless number of knights, warriors and magicians made valiant efforts to slay the demon, but they too fell to the ground in vain.

Then, a group of talented young men came to the light. Strongly bonded together with friendship and courage, the Team ventured across the land of Minecraftia to kill the demon lord for good. They marched forward, destroying shadows and bringing lights to their way to the ultimate mission. Blessed by Notch the creator himself, They had nothing to fear. Canadian's sharp arrows were always on-target, along with Bacca's giant axe hammering down to the skulls of evil minions. For those who were lucky to escape from the might of the duo, the Dragon's son always waited no matter where they chose to hide. There had been some assassination attempts from Griefers, but they only ended up having a knife in the throat without knowing what had hit them. Stars and breezes whispered to the Knight in blue, guiding him towards the way he asked for. From droplets to the highest of all waves, everything that belonged to water obeyed the will of the Mudkip. And, among all of them, was their valiant leader. With his thunder-bringing golden sword held high, he led the team with leadership and courage. Together they fought, together they walked. They crossed the highest hills and thickest jungle to fight mobs and gGriefers. They traversed through the vast desert and frozen wasteland to find Herobrine. And when they finally found him, they fought with all their power to bring him down to ground.

If this was to be an ordinary tale, it would only be right to say that they lived happily after they slayed the demon lord. For some unknown reason, however, this story does not end as it supposed to. Herobrine escaped to the Nether at the very last moment, never to return to the world ever again. Our heroes, who had ended their everlasting war with Herobrine, quickly dispersed to their own way rather than celebrating their glorious victory together. People were confused at the sudden collapse of the "great friends", but soon many of them simply decided to forget the fact ant keep on praising them as a team. After all, even after their rather unexpected retirement, they were still Heroes, saviors, and someone to look up to. Their brave adventures were made into many stories, and the bards transcribed every single one of them onto an epic poem. At that time, the Odyssey of Team Crafted was more than just a bedside tale. It was something they considered as a part of Minecraftia's proud history...

**~~~o~~~**

"But Uncle, why would people forget such an epic story?"

The boy asks. He had been lying in the bed, just like any other night, listening to his "uncle" quietly unfold yet another old bedtime story. His inquisitive maroon eyes - almost hidden behind bushy dreadlocks - are looking at the man in grey robe. The man thinks for a moment, then simply shrugs.

"It happened quite a long time ago"

"How long?" the boy asked again.

"Around few centuries" the man answered.

The boy nods. It is hard to imagine how long it would exactly feel like, but at least he understands a few decades would be enough to make many things forgotten. Even for him and his uncle, centuries sounded way too long for anything to be passed on.

"Now then,that would do for today's story, my dear"

the grey-robed man stands up. just then, the boy leans toward him, grabbing the man's hand. This mildly surprises the man, making him sit back down. Once again, the boy's pleading eyes meet the man's. soothing warmth from the boy's tiny palm seeped into the man's abnormally pale hands.

"Uncle, please stay with me for tonight"

"I'm sorry, young one. I have much to do" The man comforts the child in quiet voice. At first, the boy looked like he was looking for excuses to stay up longer. However, The man knows better. He senses that something else is bothering the boy, and he could guess what it was. "Is it because of the Ender?"

"...yeah" the boy murmurs. "I hear her almost every night these days. Still don't quite understand what she's saying, though" The boy went on, his calm expression slowly changing into more worried one. "It's strange. She used to sound so kind and soft, but now it's more like she's angry. Not to me, I think... But she keeps whispering as if she wants me to do something about it. You know too that I'm not a coward or anything like, but the words... they freightens me"

The man looks at the boy with concern. He thinks for a moment, then stands up.

"Excuse me for a moment"

The boy let go of the man's hand, and watches him slipping out of the tiny room. The boy sits up and waits for his uncle to return. After few minutes, the man returns with a strange-looking object in his hands. It somewhat resembled earmuffs, only that it had fine craftsmanship added to the design. The boy receives the well-kept antique from his uncle, and observes the black-and-lime-green artifact with curiosity.

"It once belonged to my old friend. I enchanted it myself, so it should work just fine"

The boy put the artifact on his ears. It felt a little awkward at first, but once he snuggled back into the blanket he nearly forgets the weight of the artifact as if it was there from the beginning. the man's hand softly brushes the boy's tangled mahogany hair, and the boy shuffles closer. Once again, the man stands up. the boy does not stop him. instead, he watches the man slowly moving towards the door.

Before the man leave the room, he looked at the boy one last time.

"Good nignt, uncle!"

The man smiled.

"Good night, Tyson"

**~~~X~~~**

After the man returned back to his study, he let out a deep sigh. He knew this would come eventually, but it's coming way faster than he first anticipated. and, if what Tyson said about the voice was correct, he might have to count yet another factor into the calculation. Unfortunately, both meant grave news to the Minecraftia.

If he was to do something, he would have to act fast. He knew, that even if the warriors of the past had deceased long ago, their powers and their destiny as Notch's chosen warriors have been passed on through the blood of their descendants. If the world is at the edge of destruction once again, it is only up to them to save it. However, although he had the fortune of taking Tyson under his wing, It wouldn't be an easy thing to find the rest of the descendants before something serious would happen. And, As much as he wished to stop yet another upcoming disaster, he wasn't so sure if he could bring back the long-forgotten legend, let alone face the painful remains of the past memories.

The man quietly prayed, looking out to the full moon high above the serene night sky.

"May Notch help us all"

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**Reviews and feedback are welcomed.**


	2. The game

**EDIT: The last half part was added + re-written due to changes in future storyline. New chapter will come shortly.**

**Author's Note:**

**Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed my prologue! It was very encouraging to me.**

**Kalvin4444: I'm happy that you liked my prologue! I hope you would also like this chapter, too :D**

**Guest: Yes, that's how most people in this universe believes so ;)**

**WARNING: Please watch out for stupid name choices, half-baked battle scenes that aren't entirely accurate to actual hunger games (Couldn't help it, considering this Minecraftia partly follows real-world logic when it comes to situations like this), and unnecessary amount of gore. I'm not kidding here, especially about the gore part... and there may or may not be some no-no words in the middle part... Let me know if this is too much for the rating.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own neither Minecraft nor Team Crafted.**

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The cannonfire disturbs the serenity of flourishing jungle.

Four figures appear out of thin air, surrounding the giant water fountain in the center.

Blake observed each survivors with his keen hazel eyes. _Four of them_, he thought, quite fewer than he first expected. He glanced at his far right side, where a bulky lady stood with a bow on her hand. On his left hand side, a juggernaut of a man is raising his double iron sword in attack position. To any other people, they were enough to pose quite a threat. To Blake, however, they were barely more than a couple of rookies who might have been quite lucky this time. He silently gazes at the chest-adorned fountain in front of his eyes. There should be the last survivor behind it - the one he is prepared to take down - and at the moment, it was the only thing that really had his attention.

The countdown, written in bold red hologram, starts ticking at the top of the fountain.

_**Death match starts in: 3**_

The competitors silently awaits for the invisible barrier to be released. Blake keeps his poker-face, never taking his eyes off from each competitors. Just by looking at their expressions, he could already figure out who was going to go after who. It doesn't really matter to him, but he would still have to be cautious. After all, he wouldn't want to waste his strength when it comes to the final moment.

_**Deathmatch starts in: 2**_

He closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath.

**_Deathmatch Starts in: 1_**

He hears his heart pounding wild inside his chest.

**_Deathmatch Starts in: Now!_**

Once again, the cannonfire shakes the arena. Just as expected, it seemed that the lady Amazon was straight after his neck. She gave a quick shot at Blake, and he swiftly jumped back to let the arrow swoosh past him. When Blake had regained his posture, he saw that she was already charging right at his face with her brand-new diamond blade (She had been damn lucky this round!). _So it's supposed to be a distraction?_ Clever, but he was way too experienced to fall to such pathetic plan. within a split of a second, an Ender pearl sailed across the air, transferring Blake's body out of the way before the woman could shove her blade into his throat. This time, it was the woman's turn to be perplexed. She quickly glanced around to find her disappeared target, but it was too late to save her. Not so far away from the fountain, a razor-sharp arrowhead was already flying straight towards its prey. It pierces straight through her left eye, and she plunges to the ground with no chance to scream. Her lifeless body crumbles into a puff of white ash clouds, leaving behind miscellaneous loots she had collected from her previous victims.

Such gruesome manhunt was one of the most common occurrence in this arena. This was the infamous "Survival Game", one of Minecraftia's most popular sports. It is the only chance to witness the life-or-death combat without anyone actually getting killed, so many Minecraftians quench their desire for grisly real-time battle by watching 24 tributes butchering each other till their number narrowed down to 4~6. It is something like a legal version of underground boxing match, only it's much more, well, gory. Our young hero, Blake "Bullseye-Benja" Hughes, is considered to be one of the most promising players of this extreme sport. The ones who he just "murdered" so far would probably watching the match through the screen in waiting area, alive and healthy, swallowing bitterness of their defeat while waiting for the remaining pain to melt away. Many hidden cameras within the stadium is currently delivering this fiery battle real-time to the millions of cheering audiences.

Having finished the job quicker than he expected, he turned his head towards the direction where the constant clanging of metal-against-crystal came from. Two figures came into view : one belonged to the juggernaut who had been on his left side, and the other to the gangly, tanned man with blazing diamond axe - Nicolas "A.S.F." Aceti. Blake could always jump into the fight, taking down his biggest rival easily along with the fat noob. But no, such an easy triumph wouldn't be nowhere satisfactory. Instead of intervening, he decided to observe their battle while catching his breath for a short second.

At first glance, it would seem as if the juggernaut is cornering Nicolas with splendorous dance of his duel blade. However, if one was to look at their fight a little closer, it would be evident that it isn't quite so. The man is starting to lose his focus little by little, and his random slashes doesn't really have any stable pattern. On the other hand, Nicolas is swinging heavy diamond axe like a piece of wooden stick, patiently searching for loose spots he could strike on. It took a bit until the juggernaut could realize his strategy was not working as he planned. So, instead of slashing on, he strikes down both of his blade at Nicolas. Irons and Diamond clashed together, and the juggernaut began to push his opponent back with sheer force. Bad choice, it was. Unlike his anticipation, the gangly one firmly stood against him with little to no effort. Then, when two clashing forces reached the equilibrium, Nicolas quickly ducked aside. The juggernaut staggered as soon as the balance broke. Nicolas didn't let the chance to slip away, swiftly tackling him with a swing of his leg. In a second, the man was now fully on the ground. Nicolas raised his cyan axe high, then slammed it right down towards the juggernaut's head. stream of blood shot out from the wound, until it dissolved into thin air with the twitching corpse.

Finally, it's just between the two. Blake threw away his bows, and picked up the diamond blade he earned from his previous kill. Arrows were pretty much useless at this point. Blake knew that, although his nemesis looked nothing like so, he was packed with muscle tissues that were many times denser than that of normal human being's. To take him down only with archery, he'd have to have twice more arrows than what he has. Plus, if he charges at him directly, which is highly likely thing to happen based on his many past experience with him, he would instantly ripped into pieces even before he could pull his bowstring. Same kind of thoughts went for the other end of this rivalry. Nicolas, too, knew painfully well how agile and cunning his opponent could be. How can he possibly forget the last season's match, when he had became a walking pincushion in a split second after he slipped? His lips curls back in snarl, showing inhumanly sharp canines behind it. Why is his nemesis planning to fight him head-on this time, he had no idea. It doesn't matter anyway. Soon, it's going to be his payback time.

The jungle arena fell into utter silence. Hazel eyes glares directly at obsidian ones with bloodthirsty glimmer, sword and axe held tightly on each other's hands.

Then, as if on cue, they charged straight forward with earthshaking roar.

They were both faster than any ordinary humans can ever be, but Nicolas had a significant upper hand when it came to speed. Of course, Blake already counted that into his calculation. Usually, the battle between mediocre fighters consists lots of unnecessary clashes and clangs. However, when it comes to the expert's one, only a single blow would be enough to finish the situation. Timing was all that mattered right now. He would have to duck down when he drew close enough, then strike him directly from below before his brutal opponent got the chance to recover his posture. So far, everything was going according to his scenario. Nicolas is coming in fast, and he would initiate his final move in 3...2...1...

_wait, the F-?!_

Blake's eyes widened. As if he was mocking his "perfect" plan, Nicolas leaped into the air with his axe held high. _No, no nonononono..._ He couldn't believe that what he though was perfect ended up in irreparable mistake. Time seems to slow down around him as he quickly tried to think of some sort of plan-B, but whatever he chose to do he wouldn't be able to act fast enough to cancel out that deadly chop. He was surely screwed this time, but That doesn't mean he could just stand there and accept his fate like an idiot. He swung his blade hard as his last mean for struggle, more instinctive than thoughtful, and closed his eyes tight.

With a sickening crunch, everything went spiraling down to unconsciousness.

**~~~O~~~**

Blake stumbled out of the respawn with splitting (quite literally) headache. The cost of the defeat came not only in bitterness of the heart, but also with the massive aftershock of the mortal blow. He couldn't let go of his head due to the nauseating sensation from his virtual head trauma, which he hoped would go away after some minutes of fresh air. When he finally managed to opened his eyes, however, he immediately regretted doing so. On the huge screen hanging on the wall of the player's waiting room, his last moment with Nicolas was being projected over and over in slow-mo. For some reason, the camera guy just had to zoom into the very moment where the axe sliced through his melon, and Blake felt nausea bubbling up to his throat again just by watching one of his brain chunks spatting against the camera lens.

Then, the view changed again, revealing a rather shocking outcome that no one could ever expect. Apparently, his last move wasn't in vain at all. At the very moment when Ol' Nick's axe plummeted down his head, Blake's sword also went straignt through the bacca descendant's chest cavity, directly into his heart. Blake quickly checked the scoreboard at the side of the screen, and realized that game had ended in a tie. Both "Bullseye-Benja" and "A.S.F." has been nominated as the common winners of this match, and this epic scene would be pasted on the cover page of local sports tabloid. However, the thing that bothered him the most was not about his not-so-glorious victory. He had to split the prize money with his rival, and only half-a-stack of diamonds just weren't enough to cover both his overdue rent and living expenses at the same time.

When he was about to leave the area, he suddenly felt chills dripping down his spine.

Someone might have been spying on him. Was it out of malice? he wasn't sure.

Was it Nicolas? He turned his head towards his rival, but he was scowling at the replay screen with his hand firmly grasping his charcoal dress shirt. He looked around the entire lobby to find the mystery watcher, but every other tributes were also seemed too busy doing their own thing. The icy feeling still sat heavily within his stomach. Blake cautiously looked into more remote corner of the area, into the shadows behind thick prismarine pillars.

He finally found his stalker.

There was a boy, aged about 10 to 12 by the looks, standing under the shadow cast by one of the pillars nearby. He seemed to be wearing a loose white t-shirt with single black stripe in the middle, which had sleeves that were too long for his scrawny frame. His grey shorts almost covered up to his knees, and even his purple canvas shoes looked a size too big for him. What intrigued Blake most was his bright green headphones, which should have been taken away before entering the player's area, but then he was obviously too young to be allowed in here to begin with.

Though the child's rich brown locks covered almost all over his eyes, he could surely feel the youngster carefully scanning him from head to toe. He didn't seem to have any bad intention. Rather, it seemed to be more of a curiosity. Still, Blake couldn't shake off the feeling that something was off about this child. Just what is he doing in here? Was he simply lost? then why is he spying on him?

"Hey, buddy! how did you get in here?"

The boy visibly tensed as soon as Blake's eyes locked onto his maroon ones. It was clear that the boy didn't expect to be noticed so soon, but strangely enough he didn't try to hide or run away. The boy kept his spot for a while, but it looks like his courage is running out fast. He might wanted to say something, if he didn't panic right away.

Blake carefully approached him. It felt stranger the more he walked closer towards him, as if the child was something that's not actually there; like a shadow, for example. The boy took a step back, and another, and another.

Blake stopped as soon as he sensed the boy's fear. However, before Blake could ask anything, the boy spun around and ran.

"No, wait! I'm not gonna-"

The boy was more agile than he looked. In a mere seconds, he bolted out of Blake's sight and right behind the two-block wide prismarine pillar. Blake could have simply let the boy run, but somehow his survival gamer instinct took over. Before he could realize, he was already chasing after the child. There shouldn't be any space to hide behind that pillar, so he should be able to catch up to him in any seconds...

... Only that he didn't.

Blake stopped immediately when he was met with a dead end. He thought he might have seen purple particles floating away, before they disintegrated into thin air. He looked around the area in confusion, but the child was no longer there. Not even his hasty footsteps could be heard, as if he simply teleported out of his perimeter. Something was definitely not right. Was the boy really even there to begin with, or was he simply having a bad case of hallucination? Did something went wrong while he was repawning?

Millions of unanswered questions swirled around his aching head, until it was suddenly interrupted by a friendly voice from behind.

"Hey, Blake!"

Blake snapped out of his thought. He turned towards the direction where the familiar voice came, and found his friend, Ravi "RavesterABC" Barn, waving his hand from far side of the lobby. Blake smiled back, and walked out of the shadowy corner to greet his friend. The whole mystery child thing would be better forgotten for now.

"That was quite a stunt you pulled over there, dude." Ravi offered a high-five, and Blake gladly took it with wide grin.

"Could have been better if my head didn't get squashed into pieces." Blake chuckled. "By the way, what happened to you, Ravi? I thought you were one of the remaining six before the deathmatch?"

Ravi shrugged. "Eh, wasn't my lucky day, I guess. Got totally destroyed by some hulk of a lady right before it."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "You mean, the one who was right next to me?"

"Yup, that's the one! Thanks for avenging me, by the way."

"My pleasure, buddy!"

Ravi gave a hearty smile to Blake. "Well then, let's get going, shall we?"

"Sure thing! Man, I really need some cold drink right now..."

Ravi kept on talking as they walked towards the lobby gate. That moment with the mystery child still bothered him a bit, but it slowly slipped out of his concern as he listened to his friend rambling on and on about every single details that happened at the game. It was all just a huge illusion after all. Having one's cranium cracked open would surely have that much side effects, no? Blake decided to conclude today's event as nothing too serious, and went on his way to get something that could ease his headache.

Had he been more watchful to his surroundings, he might have noticed a team of paramedics frantically rushing into respawn area. He would have seen Nicolas, clearly upset for some reason, arguing with security guards over something that wasn't supposed to happen. Or, if he was to pay a little more attention, he might have spotted A tall, muscular woman with golden-rimmed black leather jacket - The one he had shot down at the deathmatch - standing in the middle of the commotion; and more importantly, the mystery child hiding right behind her.

In short, Blake had no clue that something huge was coming towards his way.

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**Reviews and Feedback are welcomed, especially for today... I might have gone a bit slack in the end part. Sorry about that.  
Side character "Ravi" was modeled after Vikkstar123HD.  
**

**Cookies and banana milkshakes for people who guessed who the mystery child is.**


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